Guide
Hi welcome, you are here because you need info, or perhaps you would like to share something you just learnt, well this wiki is for you. You are very much welcome to participate and we need more able writers to keep this project flowing. Introduction to Student Guide Basically this is a student guide to share with you what I should have known at the beginning but didn’t learn until later. Most of what is said here seriously doesn't apply to everyone, and is not meant to, it is a general take on doing things, which may or may not necessarily work. Pre-departure Prepare in advance for university life! There a number of specific things you might one to prepare yourself to, before you leap in to this life as a university student. You will have certain expectations, pre-conceptions, misconceptions, random thoughts about university, anxieties about what life is going is going to be like for next 3 to 4 years. You might be thinking about losing your virginity, whatever that is, meeting your soul mate, tasting your first sip of alcohol, smoking shisha, smoking pot, going clubbing, and publicly exposing yourself. But before you consider doing all that, it is essential that you learn and practise certain basic skills such as cooking, washing, changing the bedding and cleaning. You’ll be surprised how many people can’t do these things. You aren’t alone if you’ve never boiled an egg! Learning the basics from friends and family, books or even the internet, will go a long way to help you when you arrive. YouTube is your friend, use it. What to pack You don't really need to pack much, the list of things you get here will eventually grow, you will find that the longer you stay, your list of clothes will grow with you. For starters prepare: * 3-7 sets of day clothes * 1 set of cultural clothing (optional) * 1 set of formal clothing (events presentation) * towel (optional) * bedding (optional) * some toiletries For anything else you may easily be able to purchase them from Tesco Semenyih, but be warned that sometimes particular items may sell out, but its nothing to worry about. You can survive. Meeting like minded freshers Be on the look out for specialized groups on Facebook or elsewhere targeting freshers such as yourself. Join these groups and meet like minded peeps that may be able to share your ups and downs. Places to get help * Lowyat Nottingham Malaysia Campus Thread * Any relevant Facebook freshers group Accommodation Official website is here. Where you may find all sorts of helpful advice Your best bet for anything, even if you are feeling lazy, is to email them at accommodation@nottingham.edu.my Now, the choice is yours whether you will pick on-campus or off-campus. Both have its pros and cons. In terms of safety, Taman Tasik Semenyih is one of the most safest places you could stay, there has been only like 2 student deaths, and it only happens to internationals that engage in clubbing, drinking and a variety of other vices, in the last 5 years. The only problem is security of your belongings, which depending on the type of property you decided to rent, may lead to break-ins. Laptops and other belongings being stolen, but so far there are no known cases of physical attacks. As to cases of passports, getting stolen, you don't have to worry about that, if you are an international, chances are the UNMC visa office does a great job of looking after your passports. Another fun fact, is that break-ins can happen at any time of day, be it day or night. And it doesn't take long for someone to get through a cheap lock, and through your bedroom door. Sometimes leaving your window open too is another potent vector of attack. But this doesn't mean that you won't get burgled if you stay on-campus, cause if you leave your stuff in the open or your room door ajar with your stuff within, expect very much to get your kit stolen, and don't be surprised if the perpetrator is a fellow student. House Selection Criteria * Select houses which are well secured. * Know your housemates * Be wary of staying in bungalow type houses, and houses that are located to the edges, near forests. * The closer to the TTS pedestrian bridge * Bus stop * Terrace Houses which are located in poorer neighbourhoods tend to be safer then isolated bungalows. * Washing Machine * Kitchen * Fridge or Mini-Bar * Water Heater * AC Rent So, how much is the right price, well if this university were not here, rent in Semenyih would have been dirt cheap. Depending on how you play it, the how much you pay for rent can vary a lot, like if you are willing to share your bedroom with like 4-5 other guys then you could scrape by with nothing more than RM 50 per month, or may be RM 100 for a single room and if you like to flaunt your wealth, then you will try something more within the RM 850 per month or higher range. Current average prices are somewhere around RM 500. Which in my opinion is way too high, but will give you a decent bed somewhere close to the pedestrian bridge in TTS 5. Yeah, and rent prices doesn't include utilities. Another fun fact, is that when you decide into stay in those bungalow student hostels electricity tariff is generally going to be higher than average, due to a single main meter being used for the whole house. Claiming Deposit Towards the end of your tenancy, you will find that you have to claim back your deposit which is typically something like 2+1 months with the extra month to cover damages. Most students avoid the hassle of this by not paying the final two months of their stay. On-Campus Rooms There is a slight difference between New and Old on-campus accomodation. For one thing, the old accomodation is located closer to the student association building as well as to the sports and gym facilities. It also features a full kitchen complete with gas powered cookers. Furthermore, it also has a doby and self service laundry areas. The new accomodation while having slightly spacious rooms, have only a small pantry with limited cooking facilities. Also, there is no washing machines or dryers located anywhere near the new accomodation, and residents are expected to carry their laundry all the way to the facilities in the old accomodation to get their laundry done. On-campus Accomodation Layouts Off-campus rooms See this official list. On top of this there are other house owner renting their houses out. Their contact numbers may be obtained from signs placed around TTS, and some just have to know people. The good thing about off-campus rooms is that regardless of the asking price placed, you are actually able to haggle for a cheaper price (if the asking price is RM 650, reduce it to RM 400) and take upon this as good opportunity to grow your skill of haggling. Recent, oversupply of student accommodation means, you are holding a really powerful bargaining chip. Most of the landlords of these student houses typically own many properties and rent out their property like a professional business. Of course, there are the small time, small fish, these guys let out their property at a very good price. One other thing you should know is that UNMC has a really good disclaimer meant to disassociate themselves from any liability coming from using these off-campus providers. Arrival First thing first, when you first arrive in Nottingham, chances are you going to be sorted into two categories, You will either be an international student or a home one. Freshers Week A bunch of events to get yourselves acquainted. Club and Societies Fair Is an annual fair that typically happens in the 2nd to 3rd week of university, where you will be presented an opportunity to register for clubs and societies that could possibly enrich your university life. Food and Beverages At UNMC, you will obviously want to be able to eat something, and like most places you have a choice of cooking yourself or eating out. UNMC On-Campus Catering Service Providers Within UNMC, you will have a limited set of food options. There are currently 3 main providers. Most of them are only open from something like 9 AM till 9 PM. * Sodexo Corporation (The Main Caterer) * Subway (American Fast Food Chain) * Secret Recipe (Local Fast Food Chain with Regional Influence) Generally, food price is on the upper end of the scale, and don't expect to get a large serving of anything. Prices range from RM 3 to RM 25. For 24 Hour food service, there is a 7eleven convenience store that is open 247, alternatively seek off campus food delivery. How to Buy Food For subway and secret recipe, the way you have to buy food is pretty straightforward, you go into the shop, look at the menu and prices, make a decision, tell them your order, in the case of subway, ordering would involve telling them what precise ingredients would you like to have in your bun. Now, this may come surprising to some of you but on top of what is the listed price, Subway and Secret Recipe will charge you an additional amount for service tax etc. For Sodexo, in order to make payment, you will first need to buy coupons, basically paper money which you can get in denominations of 5s and 10s. They do have smaller denominations such as 1s and halves to give you as change, but typically they will only sell you in 5s or 10s. # You decide what you want to eat, you have a variety of food options # Go to the particular stall, typically most food sold at Sodexo, as been prepared in advance, so you wait in line. # Point out which particular food item you would like to eat, and always ask for more, otherwise your food serving is going to be so much less. # (Optionally) You can ask out the pricing, cause while it is Sodexo policy to list out prices, recent complacent behaviour can be seen where they fail to put out proper pricing of foods. # The seller will tell you the price and you will pay them in Sodexo coupons, you will be given an exact change. Pro-tip * You can actually alter the Sodexo menu by emailing them so, if you were arriving on campus say Sept 2015. It is hence advisable that you email them, give them a list of ingredients and recipe, and tell them that you did a survey and there is a whole bunch of you who want to eat this particular food. UNMC Off-Campus Delivery Food List Currently there are a number of caterers providing food delivery service to campus and off-campus areas of TTS. Food delivery is typically free, there are however varying minimum charges for deliveries. * Al Shad * Al Reef * Ali Habi * Budyz * Dominoe's Pizza * Idi's See UNMC Food Menu. How to order For most of the food delivery service providers typically you have a few options on requesting your food. * Phone Call * SMS * Whatsapp * Online Food request (available only for Dominoes) Standard Steps # Decide what you are going to order. You do this by consulting the available food lists. # You pick up the phone and start dialing. # State your order, in the fashion of item followed by quantity # Give them your address # Ask them to repeat your order (This is very important) # You now have to just wait for your food order and this may take a while depending on delivery times. Food Delivery Typically, a man on motorcycle will come and deliver the food to you. Most of the time, these are South Asian men from countries such as Pakistan or Bangladesh. Food delivery from most providers will typically be using polystyrene food containers, for bulky food items, semi plastic-paper wrappings for items such as nan and roti canai, and disposable plastic container for curries, if you order dal, you will just get a plastic bag, and the whole of it will typically be carried in a plastic bag. And there is not much insulation, to prevent heat loss. Also, there are health concerns with the use of hot foods being rapidly transferred into polystyrene containers. But don't worry, everybody looks fine, don't they? Dominoes Pizza is typically delivered by a man on motorcycle with Dominoe's pizza's livery. The pizza comes in boxes and will be well insulated in a special pouch placed in a specially designed compartment. So, your pizza will arrive safe and warm. Payment and Collection Before arrival, the delivery guy will typically make a call to you, to inform you of his impending arrival, typically this is before he has even arrived at the predetermined collection area. Next obviously, you make your way to meet him and for all transactions, be prepared to pay in cash. Most of the delivery guys are typically carrying sufficient change but there have been times due to circumstances and situations out of anyone's control where they haven't got an exact change. It is up to you as to how you would like to proceed from there. Social Life At university, you are generally expected to make friends build professional connections, yada yada. Transportation The university provides a number of free bus service, the most important one, the Campus-Kajang shuttle service is probably the one that you should be most familiar with. See Shuttle Bus Besides this, there are dedicated TTS shuttle service and Tesco shuttle bus services, which you could make use of. How to go to Kuala Lumpur using Public transport # Check schedule decide which bus you want to catch # Go to the bus-stop, nowadays they have pictures and exact coordinates of it, so go figure. # Wait for the bus, generally, you might be at the stop than the bus. # Get on the bus, and ride the bus until the end of the line, seemingly where everyone is getting off. # Cross the road, but be careful, cars don't really care about pedestrians in Malaysia, and make your way to the KTM Kajang railway station # Don't waste your time with the ticket machine, chances are you don't have enough coins or your money is too new to be able to operate it. Wait in line at the ticket office. There are 2 counters, but usually only one is available at all times. # Buy your ticket, Just state your destination, and give the clerk so money, they will return you exact change. # Get your ticket, its a printed piece of receipt and simply walk through the turnstile or open gate, it is not necessary to show the attendant at the station your ticket unless he wants you too. Now, since you are heading to KL you will need to cross the railway tracks and there are two ways of doing this, I would strictly recommend that you use the pedestrian bridge, but if you really have to catch the train, feel free to run across the railway track, just make sure the auxiliary police or station master doesn't catch you when you do it. # Next go to where people are waiting and be prepared to take the train. # Middle coaches are typically reserved for women but its alright for men to be in there. # Depending on the train, if its 6 coaches you will have announcements and indicators to tell you the location of the train but if you are in one of those old 3 coaches then take note of the number of stops, or journey time spent in the train to avoid missing your stop. Places to visit in Kuala Lumpur * Mid valley, its like a big shopping mall * KLCC, get off at KL Sentral, and take the Kelana Jaya Line * Mines, you get off at Serdang. Trip Planning In a recent update Google now provides street view in Malaysia, so take this to use it in trip planning when you want to visit places in Malaysia. Grocery Shopping In order to get your weekly supplies, you have a number of a options. Instead of going shopping, try Tesco online, where you have delivery sent to your door step. Only pay a token sum of RM 6 - 8 as delivery charge and you get groceries, without leaving your bed. Mobile Phone Service Subscription Essential to you is to get yourself, a mobile number while you are staying in Malaysia. For internationals, typically you would be looking at getting a pre-paid service. Getting a mobile number is pretty straightforward, you will be needing identification such as your passport when you buy and register pre-paid sims, this applies to local students as well. You have an option of selecting mobile service from: * Digi * Celcom * Maxis * YTL Yes Typically there are benefits on being the same network as your friends, but such benefits remains to be seen. Most of the time, if you are a smart phone users, you will find yourself leaning more to data based personal messaging and hence be using things like * whatsapp * viber * wechat or some other mobile based chat service. Personally, I don't know which Telco best suits you, but I think you should always go with one that doesn't kill you with exceeding quota and doesn't have a hidden monthly cost. Cause most of the Malaysian sims, you will be getting here, will have their credit or validty expiring very soon, so you will always be getting people saying that they could'nt reply you due to a lack of phone credit or some other issue. Personal Internet Subscription For those staying off-campus, or those just need a private connection for special needs. You have a choice of getting a wired or wireless internet subscription, to help fuel your internet addiction. Wired Internet Providers * Maxis * TM (Telekom Malaysia) - ADSL internet speeds dl speeds of 1mbps 2mbps 4mbps, ul speeds 0.5 mbps Wireless Internet Providers * Maxis * Celcom * YTL YES * Digi The main differences between them is the presence of a quota, wired connection are typically unlimited. BTW, fibre internet is not yet available at Semenyih despite being available in neighbouring Kajang and on-campus. The problem here is you! If you want it, you will have to lobby for it, write letters to your SApresident@nottingham.edu.my and beg him to ask TM or Maxis to fast track the deployment of fibre internet to Semenyih. Now, a tip in saving money would be to band together and get a high speed quota less internet package and split the cost among your friends. Visa Office Dealing with the Visa office, well the visa office is one of the most talked about department within the UNMC community and there is a reason for that. Here are some tips on dealing with the visa office, when you meet them, always get the email and personal number of the officer handling your case, and throughout the year never forget to ask him the status of your application or whatever. Remember its your fault for not getting on time if you don't do it. Also CC it to the SA President for better results. Other methods of on-time delivery, is to email the visa office, informing them of an impending flight departure and that you really need your passport for travel, blah blah blah. Where to shop There are a number of specialised places in Kuala Lumpur where you will be able get certain particular items on the cheap or in good variety. Item Place to Shop Electronics Jalan Pasar Laptops, Phones Lowyat Plaza Car Parts Jalan Ipoh Clothes Any mall Women Changkat, Bukit Bintang Half-man Half-Woman Chow Kit Alternatively, consider online websites such as * Lazada.com.my * Groupon * Lelong.com.my * Lowyat.net Buy and Sell Trade forum Important Links https://share.nottingham.edu.my/